Meteor Shower 2013 viewpoints in Vancouver

The Perseid meteor shower, that produces more fireballs than any other annual meteor shower, can be viewed when the earth passes through debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle. This year shower’s peak will occur around mid-day on Aug. 12 in North America, which means the best times to view the meteors will be the early mornings of Aug. 12 and Aug. 13. “If you can just get away from the lights, get away from the light pollution, you’ll get a great show because there’s 50 to 100 meteors per hour coming down,” says Rob Appleton, director of the H.R. MacMillian Space Centre in Vancouver, “so if you’re patient, and once they start coming, they come all night until about six in the morning.”

In rural and remote areas where the sky is dark, it is possible to see more than 100 meteors per hour, but a typical rate is 50 to 60.

Time: 12 am – 6 am on Monday, August 12th, and Tuesday, August 13th.

Place: Anywhere the sky is dark, and air is clean (so that there is less static light).

In Vancouver, the best place to view it without any doubt is Cypress Bowl Lookout Point. If you don’t have a car, or do not want to go that far to see it, a golf course further away from the city center should fit. The other places I can think of are Rupert Park Pitch and Putt, SFU (Burnaby campus), Fraserview Golf Course, Crescent Beach in Surrey/White Rock.